England, Croatia beat the odds to reach semis

Hosts Russia or Croatia, who meet later on Saturday and are lower ranked than Southgate's side, are all that stands between England and a first World Cup final since they won the tournament on home soil in 1966.

Yet while England's victory, only their third quarter-final success in nine attempts, was largely a one-sided affair it was certainly not straightforward.

Sweden had reached the quarter-finals by making life hard for supposedly superior opposition and it was easy to see why after a dour opening when England looked incapable of stringing passes together against their hardworking opponents.

It was predictable in many ways, therefore, that the deadlock was broken from a set piece.